Dec 15, 2018

The November 2018 numbers for India's foreign trade are here. The summary for April-Nov 2018 is as shown in the figure below:

Trade stats of India - Summary

At this rate, we would end up with an annual deficit of around 192 Billion USD, a significant jump from a deficit of around 162 Billion USD during last financial year.

The below are the numbers for last financial years imports listed in descending order of value of imports (excel online may take time to load).

The first item in the list, the mineral fuels and oils, is a necessary need as India doesn't produce any oil. Out of the imported crude coming under this chapter, we refine and export around 38 Billion USD refined petroleum products. Thus the net deficit is around 94 Billion USD. This is the fuel oil bill for India every year.

The second item in the list, the pearls precious stones and metal, mainly constitute of imports of diamonds and gold. India is the largest diamond polisher, and one of the biggest gold importer for domestic consumption. Under this chapter, India exports out around 42 Billion USD, bringing the net imports to around 32 Billion USD.

The third item in the list is worrisome. The import bill is around 48 Billion USD, and growing each year, and we don't have any significant exports in this chapter. The main imports under this chapter pertains to mobile phones and other consumer electronic equipments which contributes to roughly 25 Billion USD. The entire import is almost a deficit, making this chapter the second biggest net import item for India.

The fourth item in the list belongs to the capital goods, engineering equipment, and machinery where we have significant imports at around 38 Billion USD and exports at around 18 Billion USD. So the deficit is around 20 Billion USD.

Of the above, the urgent and important area for attention is the third item - the electronics. Despite efforts and incentive, this area is taking time to catch up. The efforts till now consisted of four noticeable steps: